Health

Sleep Deprived Women Grumpier than Men, Face More Health Risks

In a study conducted at Duke University, scientists found that women require more sleep than men and suffer from more health consequences when they don’t get enough of it.

The study questioned 210 men and women about how they felt and also tested their blood. Women who slept poorly were in a worse mood than the men who also slept poorly, but were also at higher risk for other, more serious, problems.

If a woman doesn’t sleep enough, she puts herself at risk for physiological, emotional and mental penalties. Women have a higher risk of depression and stroke after not getting enough Z’s.

Women who did not get quality sleep exhibited higher levels of biomarkers associated with heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

Also associated with the lack of sleep were fibrinogen blood clotting factors, linked to strokes, and inflammation markers associated with pain.

Men had significantly less risks, however. Men who suffered from a lack of sleep showed no notable increase in the ailments sleep deprived women faced.

Sleep expert Dr. Michael Breus said women are able to literally feel more pain when they wake up sleep deprived, and are also grumpier.

Breus said women can make up for their lack of sleep by napping for 25 to 90 minutes, as paying back some of the sleep deficit is better than not paying it back at all.

Scientists believe women need more sleep, and suffer more without it, because they tend to use mutli-tasking thought processes, which can be stressful and require more time to calm down before sleeping.

While women are prone to this type of multi-task thought processing, men can also think this way, especially if they are in a demanding decision-making job.

Sleep allows the body to recover and repair itself, and deprivation of it can cause fatigue, daytime sleepiness and clumsiness. It also affects mobility and cognitive functions.

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